This Diwali, Let There Be Light – But Of A Different Kind

We’re a generation of change – right from the way we see traveling, body-shaming, feminism, protest to even Bollywood – everything is way different from how we perceived it a decade ago. Our transitory generation can safely say, ‘It’s the end of the world as we knew it’.

What if we also changed the way we look at festivals? What if we made a few changes in the traditional ‘rule-book’, implemented them and handed it over to our children so it ends up becoming an annual tradition? How about adopting a habit of adopting a cause every Diwali?

We’re talking about a real deal here – that means, every time you decorate your house, make festive food, you also think of the cause your family can make a difference to that year.

We all love to be at home to celebrate festivals so it’s a perfect time to take up a cause together and make a difference to it collectively. Just adopt any cause – we don’t mean something that will put an end to global warming (nothing like it, if you can do that though), we mean ideas that will celebrate change in the smallest way possible.

In case you’d like thought starters, here are some ideas that you can start with this year:

Invite your maid’s family over for dinner and eat with them at the dinner table for a change. It can even be your watchman, garbage picker, laundry person – anyone you feel like knowing a little better. This can be truly enlightening. Nithya one of our ex-campaigners shared the idea of this beautiful tradition with us – he even raised funds for his maids’ kids, read his beautiful story here.

Instead of putting up long updates about how animals and birds get tortured by the smoke and noise during Diwali and boiling our blood over insensitive people not realising it, here’s a thought – you probably can’t control all people who burst crackers, but what you can do is put address tags on stray dogs and cats who live in your area. Why? Strays tend to run to a noise-free place and realise they are completely lost and disoriented after Diwali. This can help dog lovers like you bring them back to where they belong once the madness is over.

You know that lane outside your building that you’ve written multiple complaints about and have been waiting for the authorities to look into – how about doing it yourself? Maybe this Diwali you can go beyond just cleaning your own house. Pick up the broom, put on a mask, gather your family and maybe your society members and clean up that lane! We think it’ll make for a beautiful story and a brighter Diwali!

Every time you’ve seen a person in need, you’ve probably reached your wallet and given them what you can but if you had to go for a sustainable solution. You can raise funds for that needy person – the old man who sells toys, the underprivileged kid who learns with the books she finds in the trash, the old woman who is all alone after her son died – anyone who you think could use some monetary help – start a fundraiser for them on Ketto and we’ll guide you at every step. If you want to read stories of regular people changing lives by starting a fundraiser, go here.

Every child should have something to look forward this Diwali, right? How about taking rounds of your area and giving away chocolates/sweets/ice creams to children on the street. We’re sure your deed is going to light up their Diwali and their smiles are going to light up yours.

This way, by celebrating every festival, we’ll also be celebrating change. Won’t festivals become truly beautiful if we celebrate them this way? So how do you want to begin this tradition this Diwali?